Dutch Elm Conservatoire in Prison
Pleasance Courtyard

Last years Dutch Elm Conservatoire show stepped away from the conventional sketch show and opted for a themed story and this year they have done the same but much like last year although there are some brilliantly surreal twists and some genuinely humorous comic character creations the whole is not as good as the sum of its parts and falls a little flat with long periods of plot furthering at the expense of the weird i have come to expect. Set in a prision this production has the potential to give us a 'Porridge' of the bizarre but despite the frantic acting and some great leaps of surrealism the thing just fails to fully engage.

I don't mean to sound harsh because it is a good hour of comedy entertainment, but just isn't as good as I wanted it to be. They build up some nice dramatic momentum which unfortunately then just comes to an abrupt halt. I so wanted to like this show because I remember how great they were 2 years ago and wanted them to return to that peak... perhaps the single theme show is not their forte and a few more 'outside the plot' sketches would perhaps have made this show fantastic rather than just good.

Luke warm porridge